Pokemon: A Short Story
by Project H
Summary: The musings of a young trainer thrust into the lonely life of Pokemon training long before he is ready to face the world on his own.


I'm too young for this. Is it the same for everybody? Out on your own and catching Pokemon when your age isn't even in double figures yet? I wonder if there's a place in the world where this isn't normal. Where school goes on for a few more years. Where you don't have to say goodbye to your home before you feel ready.

But maybe I was ready. My parents weren't around a lot. And when they were, they fought. My older brother left at 9. There was no reason to stay. He stole some kid's Pokeball from school and ran off. I'm not even sure which Pokemon was inside, but I hope it's keeping him safe. I haven't heard from him since.

My dad never trained Pokemon. He didn't like them. I used to try to watch the battles on TV, but when he caught me he would get mad. Said it was a waste of time. That no one ever got anywhere chasing around small monsters and fighting them. I told him that the people on TV were champions. That they were famous. He sent me to my room.

Kids in the neighbourhood started to disappear. They got their first Pokemon and left town to start their journey. I saw a few of them have their first battles against each other. I got too close to one once and got some hair burned off by a Growlithe's ember attack. But I didn't mind. I liked seeing how strong Pokemon could be. But everyone moved on. Everyone left.

My best friend was Gavin. He turned 10 and his mother gave him her Oddish. I can still remember the excited look on his face. He left soon after. I only saw him once after that, when he came back home for a few days. His face looked different. He wasn't excited any more. He'd only caught a few Pokemon and hadn't won any badges yet. He didn't look like the trainers I'd seen on TV.

One day I was walking home and saw a Rattata with its foot caught in a wire fence. I'd never been that close to a Pokemon before, but I wasn't scared. It was, though. It tried to run when it saw me, but it couldn't get free. I approached it slowly, and when I was close enough, untangled it. It fled.

When I got back home, I turned around and could see the Rattata looking at me from the end of the street. I went inside, but when I left the house the next morning it was waiting on the front step for me. It followed me to school. Then it followed me home again. I never brought it inside because I knew it would make my parents angry. And they might scare it away forever. So I just started spending more time in the woods outside my house so I could play with it.

My parents didn't even notice all the time I was spending away. They were too busy arguing. Rattata was the only friend I had left. One day, at school, a kid pushed me over and started to kick me. Suddenly he stopped, and when I opened my eyes I saw Rattata biting his leg. The bully screamed and ran off. I became scared. I didn't want to get in trouble.

I ran away. I didn't know where I was going, but I ran to the edge of town and just kept going. Rattata came too. The night was cold, and I was hungry, but I was with Rattata so I was happy. I didn't know what to do. Whether I should go back home. But leaving my home town seemed like the right thing to do. Everyone else was doing it. But no one ever went back to stay. Everyone stayed a traveller. So that's what I did. I wasn't even sure if it was what I wanted. It just seemed like the right thing to do.

Me and Rattata tried training, but it was tough. We lost to Pidgeys and Nidorans all the time. Occasionally we'd see another trainer. They wanted to battle, but I told them I couldn't. Rattata wasn't even mine, since I didn't have a Pokeball to catch it with. They laughed at me a lot.

We kept trying. Kept travelling. We didn't have any supplies, but we were able to get food and sleep at Pokemon Centres. But Rattata wasn't strong. He kept losing battles against wild Pokemon. I'm not sure he even wanted to battle. Maybe not all Pokemon are supposed to be battlers. Like how not all people are supposed to be trainers. But that's what we did. Because it felt right. And what else was there?

One day, Nurse Joy gave me two Pokeballs. She said they were spare from when people had to catch injured wild Pokemon to bring them in for treatment, and then released them back into the wild. She said I could use them to finally catch Rattata, and also catch a new Pokemon so I could be a proper trainer. I wasn't so sure. But I took them and went back into the grass.

Rattata got stronger. We would almost beat Pokemon. I thought I was about to catch an Abra, but it disappeared as soon as I threw the Pokeball. Then one day we found an Ekans. We were both frightened, but the Ekans tried to attack me so Rattata bit into its tail to stop it. That distracted the Ekans enough for me to hurl the Pokeball at it and catch it. I had an Ekans! I finally felt like a trainer.

I thought things would get better straight away, but they didn't. The Ekans was strong, but we still couldn't beat many Pokemon. It was time to give up. Even with two Pokemon I wasn't any good. We could beat some wild Pokemon, but I watched trainers come and go, always getting better much faster than I was. I once would have been too ashamed to quit, but now it just seemed smart. So I started making my way back home and trying to work out what to do with Rattata and Ekans.

And that's when I found Gavin again. He was hanging out with a bunch of trainers. They all trained together and helped each other get better. They weren't that much stronger than me, but that's not what was important. What was important was that they were having fun. They asked me to join, so I did. And we lived together out there in the wild. I watched them take on any trainers that came by and wanted to battle.

I knew my time was coming. Time to finally battle. I told Gavin, and he had faith in me, so we waited around for the next person looking for a challenge. It didn't take long. I made eye contact with a trainer who was wandering through our clearing. He had already beaten some of my friends, so I knew he was good. But that didn't matter.

I walked towards him, but realised I didn't know what to say. I'd never challenged anyone before. Maybe I should try small talk. But I was nervous, and was just staring at the ground. Still, I had to try something. I had to know that all these weeks of work hadn't been for nothing. That my dream was achievable. That just because I hadn't become a great trainer straight away, it wasn't impossible for me. This was the first step to becoming a Pokemon Master. Now was not the time to be afraid.

I mustered up the courage and said the first thing that popped into my head. "Hi! I like shorts! They're comfy and easy to wear!"

He beat me in two minutes and took half my money. Jerk.


End file.
